-- Despite trailing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the polls, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said he still thinks he can pull off an upset in Wisconsin's Republican presidential primary Tuesday.

Appearing on "UpFront with Mike Gousha," Santorum said Wisconsin will be a key state in the campaign, but stressed that the race is far from over.

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"We think Wisconsin is a state we can be competitive in and maybe eke out a victory here," Santorum said on the show, which is produced in conjunction with WisPolitics.com.

Even though many in the GOP establishment have urged Santorum to drop out of the race so the party can focus on the general election campaign, Santorum said Republicans need to make sure they choose the right candidate to take on President Obama. Santorum said that he was the best candidate to defeat Obama because polls show he is performing better with swing state voters than Romney, which is where the election will be decided.

"Getting the right candidate is more important than having the race be over," Santorum said.

Santorum also said a shorter timeframe between the primary and general elections would actually help the party, pointing to 2008 when Arizona Sen. John McCain secured the partys nomination early on but went on to lose to Obama in the fall because he was not the Republicans' best candidate.

"People get caught up in conventional wisdom and their little bubbles, and the people across this state and across this country are not part of that bubble," Santorum said. "In fact, they want to burst that bubble."

Last week, Romney received a coveted endorsement from U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, who also campaigned with the presidential hopeful over the weekend. Santorum said even though the conventional Washington wisdom may favor Romney, he is still earning support from local officials across the state.

"If endorsements were going to decide this race, I would have been out a long time ago," Santorum said.

Although the recall campaign against Gov. Scott Walker has somewhat overshadowed the presidential primary, Santorum said the volunteer effort in Wisconsin has been just as robust as in any other state, adding all of his campaign offices have been packed.

"People are engaged, theyre energized, so theyre much more likely to come out and help us out," Santorum said.

Santorum Says Upset Win Possible

-- Gousha also spoke with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who announced he would run for governor in the recall election on Friday. Barrett said he finally made the decision to enter the race because he is unhappy with the direction of the state due to Walker's dishonesty and use of "divide and conquer politics."

"Weve seen this state divided like we've never seen it divided before," Barrett said.

Barrett said Walker could have compromised on some of his key initiatives, specifically collective bargaining for public employees, but instead decided to start a "civil war."

"I think the people of this state want a leader who will restore trust to state government, who will heal this state, and will provide the leadership to create the jobs that we need," Barrett said.

Barrett: Unhappy With Direction Of State

-- In a separate segment, another Dem candidate for governor, Secretary of State Doug La Follette, said he was confident he could defeat Walker because he his reputation as a maverick, not a Madison liberal, will allow him to garner support from both parties and independents.

"In a short campaign, we need a candidate who gets going quickly with that broad state base," La Follette said.

Although he did not call her out by name, La Follette criticized former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk for benefitting from millions in out-of-state, anonymous money for her campaign like Walker. La Follette admitted it would be a liability to not accept money from special interest groups as he has pledged, but pointed out he has won statewide races in the past using little money.

"This is going to be a people's campaign," La Follete said.

LaFollette Says He Can Beat Walker

Even though polls right now show Mitt Romney trailing President Obama in Wisconsin, Romney says that gap will narrow and he plans to spend plenty of time campaigning in Wisconsin if he's the nominee.

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